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It has to be a factor for consideration surely? We can only judge someone's current ability relative to the players they're playing against. If the top scorer in League Two was Irish, it's unlikely he'd make our squads, and rightly so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Murfinator
I take your point, but Landon doesn't really know any better (brief, not very successful spells in Europe aside), whereas Robbie had had years in the European game and is definitely on the way down moving to the MLS.Quote:
Landon Donovan has remained a top quality player his entire career playing in the MLS
Landon's a class act and I think he proved it at Everton.
Landon Donovan has done very well for Everton and has also done very well for the USA at worldcups. He is a very good player indeed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I don't think that Robbie or any of the othe older players (if they don't retire) can expect a guaranteed starting place.
Just scored a delightful goal for Galaxy against Van, received the ball from Donovan in the box, beat 3 lame tackles and finished very sweetly. Class goal.
His celebration saw him run to the LAG bench and pull a jersey out with RIP James Nolan printed on it. Class act.
He's playing very well all round by the way. Linking up play and bringing wide players into the game with some very clever & tidy passes.
He also just won a penalty (attempted chip was handballed by defender) which Donovan converted.
Robbie Keane pays tribute to James Nolan
I'm proud that this man is our captain.
Yes, but I'd still remove the captaincy for other reasons though. Still, all of secondary importance. Lovely gesture, nicely done.
i like that he rang the father beforehand
I'll just leave this here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj2jRfGVyoM&feature=plcp
'Let's do this'Quote:
Originally Posted by Murfinator
That reminds me of this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ognvW...e_gdata_player
Christ.
... Couldn't Claudia have done this instead?
Robbie Keane leads the Galaxy out against the Chicago Fire. Beckham suspended and Donovan injured.
Converts the penalty that he drew when he crossed the ball and it hit the defender right on the edge of the box.
...and people wonder why I hate MLS and the US national team :rolleyes: Was offered free tickets to the Fire - Galaxy game today and I had to do my best to decline respectfully.Quote:
Originally Posted by Murfinator
Robbie gets his second in the 78th minute. Great left foot shot to beat the keeper. The quality of this league is incredibly poor, there wasn't a player within eight or nine yards of him when he received the ball just outside the top of the box. Very poor goalkeeping too.
So was it a great left foot shot ? Or very poor goalkeeping ? Which?Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
Why not both? Robbie's first touch was very poor and he did well to recover with a shot off his weak foot. The keeper was caught on his near post when he should have made the save easily.
Controversial. I have doubts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
I think when I hear the words 'great left foot shot' I feel it reasonable to picture an effort so magnificent in its splendour that it renders the keeper temporarily redundant, a mere admirer at best in another mans moment.
What I saw just now was a reasonable, borderline weak, effort from Keane, which the keeper kindly moved out of the way of. Or at best took up starting a position so bad it appeared thus.
What I will agree with you on is the standard, awful. I believe a striker needs to be hungry and Keane, around defenders like these will be so well fed his appearances in green recently are a little easier to understand.
Conversely, his form for Ireland in the early part of his Galaxy career was as good as it's been in years. London Donovan and countless players around the smaller European leagues have shown that playing at a lower standard is not necessarily an obstacle to excelling in international football. I think Keane is just undergoing a barren patch and, dare I say, on the slide physically.
Can you just stop spouting so much sense Charlie?!
Keane wasn't in any form at the Euros, he saw no ball whatsoever because our full backs and midfield couldn't play the ball to him. It's silly to say he was in good or bad form there when the form of others rendered his role absolutely useless.
Goals online here: http://www.lagalaxy.com/video/2012/0...e-vs-la-galaxy
the penalty incident is on the 2:25 mark, little controversial because it's hard to tell if the player's arm is inside the area or not
second goal on 5:55, looks like he had lost the chance, but recovered to slot the ball in at the near post
could have had a hat trick with another chance just after it in the highlights
You could read it that way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Keane left for the galaxy, giving him a new found confidence, nice lifestyle, and still fit and in shape, but because of the poor league, different nutirion, fitness regime, he lost his sharpness(as it wasn't required against poorer opposition) over time coinciding with his loss of form for Ireland. Physically he is not in shape because the league is poor and the standard in terms of fitness and looking after oneself is not the same as the PL. Landon Donovan has been playing MLS all his life, keane hasn't so adapting or the transition would be more difficult - in relation to the above.
It could easily be argued, in the same respect, that linearly, over time there is a co-relation between his sharpness, shape and fitness. I'd say it is a bit of both to be honest.
Agreed, the Euros were about as useful in assessing Keane's form as they were in guaging whether or not I could cut it at that standard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Murfinator
Being a distance athlete I tend to notice when guys are in shape or not. Contrary to David Kelly's observation that Keane is podgier now than as a younger player I think Keane is leaner than I've ever seen him. His cameo in the EPL during the winter didn't show any decline in form or sharpness. His first half performance away to Newcastle was as good as I've ever seen him play.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
My beef with Keane these days is that it'd appear that his presence in the team necessitates 4-4-2 which exaggerates our deficiencies and leads us exposed to being overrun as Murf says above. The conclusion that people then wrongly draw is that Keane is off form.
Conventional wisdom is that Keane can't lead the line in a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 although with better quality ball from a more fluent midfield I think this has yet to be tested. Jon Dahl Tomasson (spelling?) thrived in a similar role, flanked by two quick players. That said, I think it's time for Keane's "must pick" status to be re-assessed.
He's definitely been carrying less body fat in latter years in comparison to his puppy fat of younger years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Robbie with another two goals tonight in his beer league. Highlights here:
http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter...-la/highlights
2 easy ones for Robbie. Beckhams 2 would have gone in at any level. Makes you think about the pros of aking the likes of him or Ian Harte to an international tourno.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colbert Report
The Galaxy keeper he looks like he's gonna burst out crying at any moment?
Yeah, that keeper looked to be in an emotionally fragile state :)
That's Kris Boyd, the ex Rangers striker playing for Portland?
The wall was poorly set up to defend Boyd's free kick, Portland's second goal.
Good atmosphere at the game, looks like the MLS is here to stay.
Robbie opens the scoring in tonight's LA derby, the "SuperClasico". Assist from Beckham for Keane's 9th league goal of the season (from 16 games).
Just back from the game. Fairly standard goal; Beckham pass splitting the defence for Keane to run on and slot home first time. In the second half, he set up Donovan for the second, hit the post and set up another really good chance. In the second half, LA Galaxy started turning the screw a bit. Caused damage much of the time he got the ball.
It may be me being cynical, but that's his sixth goal in the last six games, going back to when he returned from Euro action. I wonder is this a result (in part anyway) of playing at the higher level (Euros) for a few weeks? The MSL standard's better than some on here make out, but it's still not great (although this was an entertaining game). Both teams certainly tried to play ball, but sometimes were simply too slow in their execution and ended up going backwards when a quicker pass could have started a good attack. The keepers were both almost unable to hold on to the ball, while both sides tended at times to shoot very weakly (Donovan and Juan Pablo Angel - a Chivas sub - guilty in particular). Certainly a step down from Premiership standard anyway (not that that was really in question)
Highlights here: http://www.lagalaxy.com/video/2012/0...-vs-chivas-usa
Robbie's is goal is on 50 seconds
Debatable offside when he rounds the keeper on 2:05
assist on Donovan's goal at 2:25
Keane continues fantastic form as Galaxy drop Chivas (includes post match interview): http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2012/07...xy-drop-chivas
also go and assist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoyVIhauYAg
must be very tough on the feet kicking that huge ball bearing around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGvyM98_Zgw
Comments welcome :)
Good for Robbie; looks to be settling into liberal LA society really well.